Vancouver police gave toy guns to elementary students, teacher says

A Vancouver Police Department patch is seen on an officer's uniform as she makes a phone call after responding to an unknown incident in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on Saturday, January 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

An anecdote about police giving toy guns to students at a Vancouver elementary school was shared during a recent school board meeting.

Luey McQuaid told trustees she was working at the Alderwood Family Development Centre, which provides treatment services and schooling for children with complex needs, when the Vancouver Police Department provided the gifts during the 2019 holiday season.

Police had asked Alderwood about delivering the gifts in person, but McQuaid replied that they could only accept if officers did so in plainclothes, without identifying themselves as law enforcement.

She said there were concerns the experience might otherwise be upsetting for some of the vulnerable young students whose families had negative interactions with law enforcement, including a child in foster care.

"He was only 10 years old at the time, Indigenous, and was taken away from his mother," McQuaid said during the board's Nov. 21 meeting.

"He had already experienced trauma from police, and that included being handcuffed and also included being harmed by police."

The department declined the school's conditions, according to the teacher, and ultimately provided gifts that staff did not feel were appropriate.

"They were all toy guns," McQuaid said, adding that the presents were not passed along to students. "We don't support guns in the Alderwood program."

The incident was recounted during a meeting on the city's controversial school liaison officer program, which was cancelled last year before being reinstated this week by the newly elected board.

McQuaid argued the presence of police can have a negative impact on students whose families have had run-ins with law enforcement, echoing some of the perspectives that led the previous board to vote overwhelmingly in favour of ending the program.

"To know that police officers are coming into their school, that would cause them higher stress levels," said the teacher, who now works at Strathcona elementary. "It would directly impact their ability to focus on their education, their ability to regulate themselves and maintain positive levels of trust with their educators."

Asked about McQuaid's anecdote on Wednesday, a police spokesperson told CTV News he could not confirm whether toy guns had been delivered to the Alderwood Family Development Centre for Christmas in 2019.

Sgt. Steve Addison did note that the Kops for Kids program has raised money to buy gifts for underprivileged children for the last 35 years.

"Before the school liaison officer program was cancelled last year, our officers would connect with certain kids and ask them to provide a wish list. Using money raised by Kops for Kids, the SLOs would purchase and help wrap gifts with help from our VPD Cadets, then hand-deliver presents to the schools," Addison said in an email statement.

Addison said children would sometimes ask for Nerf guns, but that police would "always check with parents to make sure they were comfortable with their children receiving that gift."

CTV News contacted a member of the management team at Alderwood Family Development Centre, who declined to provide any further details on the incident.